Ways to water a garden

In this fifth article in the series on Prayer, the importance of “watering a spiritual garden” is explored while Teresa of Avila and her texts, ‘The Four Ways to Water a Garden’ are referenced.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis. 2:15

In the last edition of The Majellan I wrote about the Way of Prayer of St Alphonsus. His message that ‘The one who prays is certain to be saved’ allowed us to experience his simple approach to prayer:

“Leave at the door of the place where you are going to converse with God all extraneous thoughts, saying, with St. Bernard, O my thoughts! wait here: after prayer, we shall speak on other matters. Be careful not to allow the mind to wander where it wishes.”

St Alphonsus’ way of prayer was deeply influenced by the meditation method found in St Ignatius of Loyola’s Thirty Day Retreat. You begin by becoming aware that you are in God’s presence; you ask forgiveness for your sins and failings. Then open the scriptures especially the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Alphonsus has left us whole books of meditations on the life of Jesus. They follow the liturgical year of Advent, Christmas, Lent and the Passion and Death of Jesus.

The other great influence on St Alphonsus was the way of Prayer outlined by the great mystic St Teresa of Avila. She lived in the difficult days of the Spanish Inquisition and was forced to either burn or hide her writings! Her book, The Seven Mansion was seized by the authorities, so Teresa rewrote a copy and called it The Interior Castle!

Teresa wrote about her life of prayer in The Book of Her Life prepared for the Inquisition. Later she added more chapters, especially comparing prayer to watering a spiritual garden. We all know what happens if a garden is not watered.

The First Way, giving time to prayer, can feel as though we are carrying water drawn from the well in a bucket. We need to deal with all the obstacles that hinder our prayer – busyness, distractions and the more troublesome issues that touch our lives – a sort of examination of conscience. Teresa points out that this involves a lot of work, as we must tire ourselves in trying to recollect our senses. Since we are accustomed to being distracted, our recollection requires much effort. We need to get accustomed to solitude.

The Second Way involves a waterwheel. It fills the bucket for us, and we do not experience as much labor as when we filled it ourselves from the well. Perhaps, this is when our prayer has found a real place in our busy day; where, perhaps, a simple morning prayer, a rosary, an evening prayer is part of the rhythm of our day.

… and so the labor is much less than that required in pulling it up from the well.

The Third Way is even more ingenious. The garden is irrigated. Although some labor is required to direct the flow of water, God so desires to help the gardener here that the Divine One becomes practically the gardener and the one who does everything. The consolation, the sweetness, and the delight are incomparably greater than that experienced in the previous prayer.

For many of us, this is a difficult step. It is not easy to let go, to surrender. I want to think I am the one doing the work of prayer. I want to be in control of the time, and even the method.

And that’s not all! There is a Fourth Way! Rain. Who can control the weather? As Teresa tells us: Some of us will continue on the journey, and the Holy Spirit may choose to invite us into the fourth way of ‘watering the garden’.

Here, we have no work to do – the ‘garden’ of our soul is watered by God’s ‘rain’ and we are passive receivers of this great gift. We learn to live the truth of Jesus’ statement, “But those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:14).

As we await the ‘rain’ let us not forget to take the first step and water the garden by hand! Find a time and a place, ideally each day! Read a little! Pray a little! and then ACT! 

What am I challenged to do?

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